Effects of Gambling on Economy

[The Dude]

I have been hearing recently from quite a few people how damaging casinos are for local economies, and how much they just make the poor poorer. My gut reaction (and experience from being in casinos) is that these statements are based on false assumptions.

Does anybody have any references to specific studies done on the effects of casinos on local economies? I would be very interested to read what the real numbers are. After all, if I'm going to challenge their assumptions, I have to admit the possibility that I might be wrong.

[The Dude]

Come now, somebody out there has to know of one, right? David, Mason, anybody?

[George Rice]

Try contacting a casino. I'm sure they can supply all kinds of studies, some of which may be unbiased. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

But seriously, casinos might have such studies. Also is areas where there was debate on the subject before allowing casinos, the relevant government agencies would have a record of such studies. Finally, try searching the web.

[Carlos]

A couple of ideas.

The best place to search for serious economic literature is a database called econlit. I'm sure it is accessible from almost any university library. If you're not an economist you probably won't be able to read through the articles but the first couple of pages will typically give you a brief summary.

Journal of Economic Literature has a lot of not too technical surveys of different branches of economics. They may have had one the economics of gamling.

There's a book called "The armchair Economist" by Steve Landsburg that tries to debunk some common misconceptions about economics. I can't remember but he may have a chapter on gambling.

Search on the internet.

Carlos

[Lori]

Found this link on the net, I have no idea if the guy knows his stuff or not, but he does provide a bibliography that might help and he appears to quote useful info.

Effects of Gambling

Lori

[eastbay]

[ QUOTE ]
Found this link on the net, I have no idea if the guy knows his stuff or not, but he does provide a bibliography that might help and he appears to quote useful info.

Effects of Gambling

Lori

[/ QUOTE ]

The first reference is from "U.S. Catholic", which appears to be some kind of journal. Some people might consider that a credible source, I suppose. But it wouldn't be at the top of my list for objective information about an activity long considered "sinful."

[Lori]

[ QUOTE ]
The first reference is from "U.S. Catholic", which appears to be some kind of journal. Some people might consider that a credible source, I suppose. But it wouldn't be at the top of my list for objective information about an activity long considered "sinful."



[/ QUOTE ]

Ah, but doesn't the Playboy reference cancel that out [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

Some of the other references (The Economist) seem to be decent sources though.

Lori

[Ace-Korea]

The author wrote, "99% of compulsive gamblers commit crimes, and 100% of compulsive gamblers become physically abusive." How can he believe such a statement? It's just amazing to see what people believe no matter how ridiculous they sound. I wouldn't be surprised if most of surveys conducted are way off from the truth.

[Ace-Korea]

I believe it's the lower-class and upper-class who gamble the most, not the middle-class. (By the way, when I say 'upper-class' I mean people who are really up there; say the top 10% of the population.)

The lower-class gambles because they are more willing to take a risk than the middle-class or the upper-class. They don't have much to lose, and if they win, it will be relatively A LOT to them. Also, the lower-class is more likely to be superstitious and rely on luck too much, making them wanting to gamble.

The upper-class, on the other hand, has the LEAST marginal value for money. Bill Gates loses $100 in Las Vegas one night? Big deal. The upper-class is more likely to gamble for social/entertainment reasons.

But the middle-class, they don't gamble as much as the lower-class or the upper class. It's because their lives won't change much even they win some. At the same time, they don't have enough money to throw away at casinos. It's no wonder lawyers and doctors don't gamble.

So I guess it could be true that casinos take money away from the poor, but would casinos locate themselves in poor neighborhoods? I don't know.

Also, when the local economy is down, politicians seem to think that legalizing casinos is one way to bring the economy up.

I'm interested in other people's thoughts on this topic.

[Mike]

Can't help with real data. Common sense says any area has X spendable dollars in it by X number of people. All that changes is how the money is spent.

I think a local casino gives back much more than say Best Buy to the local economy.